Cathryn takes a micro look at Mersey culture

Shrunken city - Cathryn Appleton collects tiny model railway figures then photographs them around Liverpool to create a unique perspective on life and culture in the city

By Dawn Collinson

WHEN Cathryn Appleton was looking for a unique way to capture some of Liverpool’s sights, she decided to look at them from a different perspective … a 2cm high one!

Instead of just photographing the locations themselves, she created social media accounts starring miniature characters dotted around the city.

And, as her collection of tiny people has grown, the following for Honey I Shrunk Liverpool – which matches them with their perfect backdrop – has too.

“I’ve been amazed by how quickly it’s taken off and really surprised by people’s reaction to it,” says Cathryn. “Everyone seems to love the little people and even when my friends come round for a drink the conversation will always turn to ‘you should do this, you should get that’, it’s really ruling my life now!”

“But there are plenty of photographers doing that who are amazing and I just wanted to show Liverpool differently,” explains the 24-year-old. “I saw other little toy accounts so I started to look into that and it went from there. I wanted to find something which captured people’s imagination and my original Instagram account was getting saturated with photos of the same buildings so something needed to happen to make it stand out more. The little characters were it!”

Cathryn, who lives in the city centre, buys her miniature figures then lets them inspire the shots.

“They’re model railway figures which I tend to find on ebay then I modify them using clay and paint,” she says. “I look for the little person first and then decide on their best location, so for instance an old man selling balloons happened to fit in perfectly with the Pier Head festival.”

Working as a digital creative in Liverpool keeps Cathryn busy during the day, but photography takes up most of her spare time. “I’m always on my phone searching for new tiny characters. I’ve already got so many – about 100 – and I only set up the account just over a month ago, so I need to start selling them on to make room for more. I keep them all in a little craft storage box and I take them everywhere with me, I carry them round!”

Cathryn says she’d love to see Honey I Shrunk Liverpool keep growing. I’m not interested in making money out of it, it’s my passion and I just love that people love the pictures and want to share them.”

See more photos on Instagram at honeyushrunkliverpool or on Twitter @ishrunklpool